Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Practicing Archery for Revenge

After finishing a cut of meat weighing a little over a pound, followed by half a pot of lamb’s blood, Lin Chen leaned back, content, and exhaled a warm cloud of breath.

"Awesome!"

Since starting this wilderness survival challenge, he had never been so full.

A lamb of roughly twenty kilograms, once stripped of its bones, organs, and blood, would still provide over ten kilograms of pure meat.

If he ate until he was stuffed at every meal, consuming about two pounds each time, the meat alone would be enough to sustain him for ten days.

If he ate more sparingly, supplementing it with things like potatoes and wild mushrooms, it would easily last him for twenty days.

Taking it a step further, if he only ate until he was half-full, he could stretch it out for another ten days or so.

However, he wasn’t considering the option of going hungry. Now that he had Basic Bow Mastery and with so many animal species nearby, going hungry would just make him seem pathetic.

Full and satisfied, he covered the remaining half-pot of lamb’s blood and placed it inside his shelter.

When he emerged again, he was fully geared up.

He walked outside the fence, his eyes fixed on the branch spikes whose tips were stained with a faint red. A vicious glint flashed in his eyes.

’You dare steal food from me? Fine. Go on, eat up. I’m actually curious what wolf meat tastes like!’

He didn’t rashly follow the blood trail on the ground. Instead, he used branches, moss, and weeds to fashion a simple scarecrow.

Under the camera’s gaze, Lin Chen began to relentlessly practice shooting from various directions and distances.

He had thought it would be a simple matter of putting on a show, but doing it for real was much harder than he had imagined.

With his Basic Bow Mastery, the moment the thought of shooting an arrow popped into his head, his body would react subconsciously.

But what he needed to act out was the process of going from clumsy to skilled. He couldn’t expose his true ability right from the start. He had to forcibly suppress his body’s instinctive reactions and pretend to be awkward with the bow.

The feeling was like having the multiplication tables memorized perfectly, able to blurt out the answer to any problem, but being forced to play dumb and say something like, "three times six is twenty-four."

That stifling feeling was excruciating; he wished he could just pretend to be an archery genius who had a sudden epiphany on the spot.

But he also knew that was impossible. If he were to actually display his formidable archery skills, the viewers would misinterpret everything that had happened before as him intentionally playing weak, and his whole persona would crumble.

He just kept drawing the bow, loosing arrows, and retrieving them, practicing from late morning until sunset. He shot up four or five scarecrows until they were ruined.

"My God, what’s with this guy? He’s actually been practicing Archery for the entire day!"

"That’s terrifying. With that kind of patience and perseverance, what couldn’t he succeed at?"

"I bet those wolves will definitely regret provoking this young chef from Great Xia. A moment of impulse will bring annihilation upon their entire pack!"

"What does wolf meat taste like? I haven’t watched this show much. Have any past contestants eaten it?"

"Not as far as I know. Maybe he’ll really be able to set a new record."

"The recognized strongest contestant on this show is the legend, Roland. He hunted Musk Ox and Black Bears and was the absolute icon who survived a hundred days in the Arctic! But even he never hunted a wolf on the show."

Night fell. When Lin Chen showed his bloody index and middle fingers to the camera, the live chat instantly exploded.

"Wolves are extremely vengeful creatures. Once you’ve injured a member of their pack, it becomes a feud to the death."

"That’s right. Lin Chen seriously injured that wolf yesterday. The pack will definitely come looking for revenge for their companion."

"From what I know, a wolf pack’s every move is directed by its leader. If he could kill the pack leader, that might solve the problem."

Many viewers were discussing the impending man-versus-wolf battle, but a considerable number also became deeply interested in the lamb hot pot Lin Chen had made that morning.

Some people living in big cities searched for the keywords "Daxia hot pot" and were surprised to find a bunch of restaurants with different styles.

"Mommy~"

The moment her daughter’s sweet, childish voice called out, Angelica knew exactly what was on her mind. With a grand wave of her hand, she announced, "Let’s go. I’ve already made arrangements with your Uncle Gray and Uncle John. Tonight, the whole family is going to his restaurant to eat boiled lamb~"

"Yay!!! I love you, Mommy!! You’re the most beautiful mommy in the world!!!"

The two boys playing video games in the living room heard they were going out for food. They stopped playing immediately, tossed their controllers on the couch, and scrambled up to go change their clothes.

Joseph came out of the study, wrapped an arm around his wife’s shoulder, and said with a smile, "Why not go to a hot pot restaurant run by Da Xia People for an authentic taste? That guy Gray probably just gets frozen lamb, right?"

"That’s why I called John. He can get us a small lamb. And remember when we went to his farm to hunt rabbits? We agreed to get together again when we had time. This is the perfect opportunity for the two of them to meet."

"You mean... have John become a supplier for Gray? That’s a good idea. Whether he uses him or not is one thing, but it’s always good to have more options."

Angelica smiled and nodded. "Exactly. We’ll try Gray’s version of the boiled lamb this time. If it’s good, we can go to a proper restaurant for the authentic version next time."

Although the town they lived in was remote, they could get to the city if they were willing to drive for over an hour on the highway. The Chinatown there had everything. It was a place the two of them used to visit often, but they had never dared to try any dishes that were too unfamiliar. At most, they’d eat things like fried rice, chow mein, steamed buns, or seafood congee.

If she hadn’t stumbled upon this show by chance, she really wouldn’t have dared to take this step.

It was mainly because the food Lin Chen made looked so incredibly tempting. If he could create such decent meals in the forest with no proper ingredients or equipment, it was a testament to how much more delicious the Daxia Cuisine in restaurants must be.

She even regretted not being more adventurous when they used to live in the city. Now, they had to drive for so long just to get there, and with three little rascals in tow. Just thinking about it was exhausting.

The only thing that gratified her was that her children, who used to be obsessed with video games and TV, had now become loyal fans of Lin Chen. This was especially true for the two school-aged ones going through their rebellious phase; the first thing they did when they got home was rush to the projector to watch the show.

Compared to those mindless TV shows, she much preferred them to watch this. Not only could they learn about various plants and animals, but they could also pick up many wilderness survival skills that might just come in handy someday.

While hot pot restaurants everywhere were welcoming an unexpected wave of foreign customers, Lin Chen had already gathered some fresh fir needles, arborvitae leaves, and Feipeng Grass. He crushed them into a paste with a clean stone and applied it to the bloody knuckles of his right hand.

"As I mentioned when Andre was here a couple of days ago, these three plants have anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, and pain-relieving properties. I’ll add one more thing: the juice from arborvitae leaves has a hemostatic effect. It can be used as a salve on wounds to speed up healing."